The reenachtment of the Battle of Wisby 1361 in August last summer is now long gone and its winter outside. But it is time for me to take up my writings again, to summarise the event and to look into the future. This upcoming weekend the Swedish History Museum launches a brand new exhibition: “Medieval Massacre – the Battle of Gotland 1361“. Me and others from the Battle of Wisby crew will be there.

Picture: Historiska museet

In May 1361, King Magnus IV of Sweden writes a letter of warning to the burghers of Visby:

“… some of our enemies are conspiring … to attack your area by force of arms and a strong army …”

On 27 July that same year, the mercenary troops of Danish King Valdemar IV Atterdag kill 1,800 Gotland farmers. Men, old folk, youths, cripples – they all die in battle outside the city walls of Visby. Their corpses are thrown into mass graves.

Extensive archaeological investigations of the graves in 1928-1930 and modern science have provided new knowledge of what happened. And so the historical event lives on. We can also discover parallels with conflicts through the centuries. All the way to our days.

A Swedish tv show about popular science sent an episode this week including a lot of material from the reenacted Battle of Wisby this summer. For another three months the episode will be avaliable here, starting from 29:09/58:07.